DES MOINES, Iowa – Benedictine Women's Basketball took the rubber game over Grand View University on Friday night in the Semifinal round of the 2025 Heart Women's Basketball Tournament.
The No. 3-seeded Ravens earned an 80-67 win over the No. 2-seeded Vikings to earn their second road win of the season over Grand View.
Neither team was able to pull away in the first 10 minutes of action as they traded the lead 8 times before a 3-pointer from Josie Weishaar gave the Ravens the lead with just under 4 minutes left in the first quarter. Benedictine held that lead through the end of the quarter, leading 22-19, after 10 minutes.
Baskets from Nicole Storck and Riley Bruggeman followed by another 3-pointer from Weishaar within the first 3 minutes of the second quarter pushed the Ravens lead to 10 points and by the midpoint of the quarter, back-to-back 3-pointer from Lauryn Dubbert pushed Benedictine in front by 14 points.
A 3-pointer from Bruggeman pushed Benedictine to a 17-point advantage with 1 minute left before halftime before the Vikings scored the final basket of the half to trail the Ravens 45-30 at the break.
The third quarter belonged to Grand View. After hitting a total of 11 field goals in the first half, the Vikings connected on 8 of 17 from the floor which led to their highest offensive output of the game at 23 points. Defensively, they limited Benedictine to just 5 of 15, but even with that combination, the Vikings still trailed 58-53 headed to the fourth quarter.
Grand View kept their momentum from a strong third quarter going into the fourth quarter, outscoring Benedictine 9-2 to tie the game at 62 points with just over 5 minutes left in the game. Benedictine held the Vikings to 6 more points the rest of the game as they converted 10 of 14 at the charity stripe over that same stretch. Benedictine outscored Grand View 18-6 over the final 5:21 of the game to seal the win and send themselves to the Heart Championship Game for the second straight season.
Dubbert led the Ravens with 27 points, hitting 11 of 13 from the floor while hitting 3 of her 3-point attempts. Weishaar was close behind with 25 points as she hit 7 field goals with 2 3-pointers and a 9 of 9 effort from the charity stripe. Storck finished with 10 points to round out the Ravens top scorers.
Benedictine finished with a 36-24 advantage in the paint. Defensively, they held the Vikings – the top 3-point shooting team in the Heart this season – to 7 of 27 from behind the arc. They also held Heart Player of the Year Ella Larsen to just 11 points off 3 of 13 shooting.
The Ravens will travel to Olathe on Monday night for the Heart Championship Game against No. 10-ranked MNU at 7 p.m. The Pioneers advanced to the Championship Game with an 85-71 win over Mount Mercy on Friday. The Pioneers won both meetings with the Ravens this season and will enter the game riding a 26-game winning streak.
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